Recipes & Cooking

Running

Only Happy When it Rains

The Caveboy has been away on business this week, so I’ve made destressing and catching up on some rest my priorities. To that end, I’ve been meditating at least 10 minutes a day and trying to get as close to eight hours of sleep as I can. My running schedule this week was:

Tuesday: Intervals – 12×400 @ 6:56 pace

Wednesday: Easy – Brooklyn Bridge run commute

Thursday: Tempo – 2 easy, 3 @ 7:54, 1 easy

Sunday: Long – 18 @ 9:17

I used to run the 400 when I ran track, so I was actually looking forward to the intervals this week. They were fun, but tiring and Wednesday my legs felt pretty heavy. I was not overly enthused about the gym and decided to run to work instead. It was a fairly cool morning and the beautiful day and views from the bridge more than made up for my general lethargy. The tempo on Thursday wasn’t bad, and I skipped the easy run/cross train workout on Saturday and brewed beer instead. (It’s a black saison, which is now bubbling away happily in the basement.)

On Sunday morning, the smell of the malt syrup and hops still lingered in the apartment when I left for my long run. I was planning to do the Prospect-Central Park run again, but made a few adjustments to the route to avoid the New York Triathlon that was staging in Riverside Park. Sunday was perfect summer run weather as far as I was concerned–overcast, light rain, and about 65 degrees. I made good time through the Brooklyn section and started over the bridge around 8:20. I saw a few police officers wielding orange flags as I passed the halfway point, but no one stopped me and there didn’t seem to be any blockades to pedestrian or bike traffic. As I came down the slope to the off ramp in Manhattan, though, I saw a wall of runners forming a starting line up ahead. Two bagpipers were piping away enthusiastically, and I figured the start was imminent.

I jumped up on a lamp pedestal behind a race photographer just as the gun went off, and waited 4-5 minutes while several hundred runners took off toward Brooklyn. Once the flow had stemmed to a trickle of walkers, I jumped into the fray and made may way 100 yards upstream and off the bridge. From City Hall Plaza it was a short jaunt across Chambers to the Hudson River Greenway. I met a friend just before the turnoff to Columbus Circle and Central Park.

By the time we got there, the the triathlon run was in full swing and going the opposite direction we were, so we got to enjoy lots of cheering spectators and the energy of the triathletes as they entered the home stretch of their race. I was able to finish strong through the Harlem Hills, and ended up averaging a 9:02 split. Having someone to act as a pacer with fresh legs at the end of my long runs for the past few weeks has been a huge help, and I hope I’ll be able to maintain the same intensity without one in the race. Then again, maybe I just need to make a fast friend on the run.